Title: The Defintion of DutyAuthor: BigFattyTimeframe: 92 ABY, AUCharacters: Gavin Fel, Nawra Mykos, Ben Skywalker, Jaina Fel, Jag Fel, Airen Mykos, Kenna SkywalkerSummary: What does it mean to be a Jedi?Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or anything related to it. Notes: This story takes place within my award-winning Family Album series. Those stories are: [link=http://boards.theforce.net/Beyond_the_Saga/b10477/20105426/?0]Overkill[/link], [link=http://boards.theforce.net/Beyond_the_Saga/b10477/20402864/?0]Over You[/link], [link=http://boards.theforce.net/Beyond_the_Saga/b10477/20702215/?18]Fix You[/link], [link=http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=22322698&brd=10477&replies=6]The Family Album[/link], [link=http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/23850798/p1]Betwixt & Between[/link], and [link=http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=27930994&brd=10477]A Mother's Journal[/link]

Golad Fri?sat stared down at the limp form at his feet. There was no surge of joy running through him for taking a life. He had killed before, and probably would again.

Quickly searching for the resources that were the true objective of his mission, Fri'sat pocketed a number of datachips and several sheets of flimsi. In the back of his mind, he wondered how to inform his teacher of the Jedi Master's death, but he figured he would spend the trip back figuring out what to say.

Pushing those thoughts away, the Bothan knew that he was in the midst of a concentrated population of Jedi, and that it would only be a matter of time before one of them sensed what happened and alerted others in authority, if they had not done so already. Looking around the room, Golad knew it wouldn?t be difficult to find trace evidence in the house that could implicate him as the attacker. There was not enough time to try and erase his presence in a methodical and logical process.

That left only one alternative.

Stepping off the carpet where the body of the slain Jedi rested, Golad moved his focus to a molecular level. Using the Force, he sent an urge to the infinitely tiny particles that comprised the chemical structure of the floor covering. The order was only two words that were issued from his mind: move faster.

Obeying his command, the molecules began to vibrate together at a rapid rate, causing an increase in temperature. Seconds later, the rug burst into flame. The fire spread to two overstuffed chairs, and soon the blaze carried over to the drapes covering the large windows on the far wall.

Content with the damage he had caused and the effect it would have on erasing his presence, the Bothan fled the house.

He made it back to his hotel room, making sure to scramble any security devices he encountered along the way with the Force. Fishing his comlink out of his pocket he sent a message containing only three words to his master on Coruscant.

Jaina Fel awoke from her sleep with a strangled yell. The sound startled her husband of sixty years, causing him to reach for the blaster pistol stationed on the nightstand. Once he confirmed there were no intruders in their bedroom he turned toward his wife.

?Jaina, what is it??

?He?s gone.? She whispered, her voice nearly too hoarse to speak.

Jag saw that her eyes were glazed over, a telltale sign that she was falling into the Force to delve for more information. ?Who?s gone??

?Jacen.?

?Where did he go?? He asked, still confused about why his wife had woken up screaming at just after 0300 in the morning.

?He?s dead.?

Those two words caused Jagged Fel?s heart to drop. His tongue stumbled over what words he should say next. He was about to attempt some soothing line of trying to convince Jaina that her twin must have peacefully and quietly passed away in his sleep when a light from the window caught his attention.

Moving out of the bed, Jag crossed the floor and pulled the curtains back only far enough to peek out, ensuring that the fabric and his body would prevent his wife from seeing whatever may be going on outside. He quickly spotted the source of the light; flames had completely engulfed a house a quarter of a klick away. Jag swore under his breath knowing full well whose house was on fire.

Walking across the room again, he found his comlink and dialed the emergency frequency and was greeted by a young female on the other end of the line.

?This is Admiral Fel.? He stated calmly despite the emotional turmoil that was churning within him. ?I need a fire suppression crew sent to the home of Master Jacen Solo immediately.?

?Yes, sir.? The woman responded. ?Crews have already been dispatched and should be arriving momentarily.?

?Thank you.? He said. He was unsure how to proceed next. Despite what his wife had just told him, he had the urge to rush over to his brother-in-law?s home and see for himself whether or not Jacen was still alive. He wanted to get in contact with his children and grandchildren and verify their safety. But most of all he wanted to remove the look of shock and horror etched into his wife?s face.

Crawling back into the bed they shared, Jag scooted over to Jaina?s side and pulled her frame to his. ?Are you sure, Jaina?? He asked, knowing full well that she had absolutely no reason to lie to him, but still hoping she was having some sort of sick nightmare instead of sensing reality around her.

Reluctant to speak, Jaina could only nod her head against her husband?s chest.

Jag sighed heavily, still unsure about what to do next. ?Do you want to go over there?? He asked gently.

She quickly shook her head.

Jag felt his comlink vibrate and answered it.

?Dad??

?Gavin, are you alright??

?I?m?I mean, I just? How?s Mom??

Jag looked down at his wife, who still had a far off look in her brown eyes. ?Not well.?

He heard his older son sigh on the other side of the comm channel before responding. ?I?m going to head over there. Is Mom up to it??

?No. But if she changes her mind, I?ll contact you.?

?Alright.? Gavin responded. ?Love you guys.?

?We love you too, son.? With that Jag clicked the comlink off for a few moments of peace before chaos collapsed down on them with all the details that came with the death of a hero, one who unfortunately happens to be a dear family member.

?Did you turn off your comlink?? Jaina asked.

?Yes.?

?Why?? She asked with a hard edge developing in her tone of voice.

?It?s only for a couple of minutes. If one of the kids needs us, they can reach you through the Force. Even Nik is capable of that all the way from Denon. But everyone else can wait a little bit before they start harassing us with comm calls wanting us to inspect something or give statements.? Jag explained. While that was one reason for his action, there was another. As smoothly as he could, he lowered his left hand from her right shoulder to her wrist. He wasn?t surprised to find that her pu

I forgot to say how much I like the mystery you set up in the first post and the clever way you had Golad cover up his crime Force-using murderers have a lot of tricks up their sleeves.

Jaina Fel awoke from her sleep with a strangled yell.

That's the same way I wake every morning.

Night terrors

?He?s gone.? She whispered, her voice nearly too hoarse to speak.
Jag saw that her eyes were glazed over, a telltale sign that she was falling into the Force to delve for more information. ?Who?s gone??
?Jacen.?
?Where did he go?? He asked, still confused about why his wife had woken up screaming at just after 0300 in the morning.
?He?s dead.?

Well, I guess that probably answers the question from the prologue

Despite being eighty-three-years-old and no longer an active Jedi Master according to the Order?s roster, Jacen could still fend for himself in most situations. Jag firmly believed that if the flames were an accident, then Jacen was fully capable of making it out of his house alive.

Yeah, good reasoning here.

Good post, Fatty Quite a shocker that the murder victim is Jacen, but I really like the way you wrote Jaina and Jag's reaction to it. Will be interesting to see what their investigation turns up.

Gavin Fel clicked off the comm conversation with his father. Turning back towards his bed, he looked down at his sleeping wife, Liyani. He wished that he, too, could sleep through this mess and be completely ignorant of the events of the early morning. Brushing her consciousness with the Force, he pushed her into a deeper sleep in hopes that she would not awake while he was gone and grow concerned about his whereabouts. Gavin knew this would get him in major trouble with her, but he wanted to be the one to break the news to her gently that his Uncle Jacen was gone. He didn?t want her to find out by the news channel or some Jedi Knight calling the house asking about the situation.

He dressed and readied to leave while reaching out to his three daughters. They were all unaware of what was going on, but Gavin knew that wouldn?t last long. He was afraid that once the press caught wind of what happened, they would hound his girls.

His oldest, Ella, was on Ossus at the moment, in between missions for the Council. He was sure that as soon as she heard, she would come to his house.

Myra, his middle daughter, was studying medicine on Thyferra. Looking at his wrist chrono and doing some quick math in his head, he figured it was early evening on that planet. Running through a mental list of Jedi off of Ossus, he selected a Jedi Knight and called to ask her to retrieve his daughter and bring her home.

As for getting Josslyn, his youngest, back to Ossus, Gavin gave a heavy sigh before dialing his brother?s comm frequency. Spending a few seconds talking with his Nik?s secretary, he convinced the Major who guarded Gavin?s schedule with the ferocity of a Wookiee with a life debt that it was an important call and would be worth interrupting the meeting he was in with the other high ranking officers in charge of the Galactic Alliance Navy.

Not surprisingly, even Nik with rudimentarily honed Force capabilities sensed that his older brother did not have good news to share.

?Are you going to tell me what?s gone wrong? Even from here I?m picking up shock from you and Mom.? Nik greeted.

Gavin paused a moment to consider how best to break the news to his little brother. The Jedi Master?s tendency was to be gentle when informing the listener in the conversation that something terribly wrong had happened, but that wasn?t the galaxy in which Nik Fel operated. He enjoyed simplicity and straightforwardness, something that was evidenced in his starfighter tactics.

?Nik, Uncle Jacen is dead.?

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line as his brother digested the news. Gavin could almost picture the expression of Nik?s face make the subtle change into what his family called ?cockpit mode?. There would be a slight tensing of the jaw and a sudden sharpness in his green eyes. ?I take it from your tone of voice that you do not believe his death was because of natural causes.? Nik commented.

?While I haven?t been told how he died, I do know that the authorities and Jedi Order were initially alerted because his house was on fire.?

?How is Mother doing??

?Not good. I just got a dispatch informing me that Nawra sent a medic over to check out Mom. I wouldn?t be surprised if they put her in the medcenter over night for observation.?

?As to be expected. Part of her is gone, a part she has never had live without since conception.? Nik paused a moment. ?She?s not as bad as she was with Asha, is she??

?No.? Gavin answered. ?At least, not yet.?

Granted they both had been young?ten and eight, respectively?when their little sister went missing at the age of four, they both could easily remember the terrible depression their mother fell into. For weeks she never left her bedroom after chasing down every lead she could to only find dead ends about the fate of her youngest.

?What do you need me to do?? Nik asked, breaking Gavin free of his reverie.

?Find Josslyn. According to her schedule she should be in the middle of a galactic history lecture right now. You don?t need to take her

Brushing her consciousness with the Force, he pushed her into a deeper sleep in hopes that she would not awake while he was gone and grow concerned about his whereabouts. Gavin knew this would get him in major trouble with her,

Yeah, that's a little creepy, but I guess his heart's in the right place

Gavin paused a moment to consider how best to break the news to his little brother. The Jedi Master?s tendency was to be gentle when informing the listener in the conversation that something terribly wrong had happened, but that wasn?t the galaxy in which Nik Fel operated. He enjoyed simplicity and straightforwardness, something that was evidenced in his starfighter tactics.

Really liked that bit. Says a lot about Nik and Gavin as well since this is the observation he makes, reading personality traits into the way his brother operates a fighter.

Gavin heaved another sigh. ?I have a feeling that the Force is going to need to be with all of us.? He muttered to himself.

More than he realizes, I suspect. This was a murder, after all

Good post, Fatty Looking forward to the next addition and seeing what clues the family can glean from the crime scene.

Nat: Planning funerals is not a fun thing to do, but thank you for reading and liking the post.

Yobi: Gavin has had a habit of being a little too overprotective of Liyani at times, and she's more than willing to let him know when he's overstepped his bounds... at least that's how it works in my head.

I promise we'll get to the crime scene here shortly, but first I have to introduce you to V'Kari Tain. Hopefully that post will be up tomorrow, if I can get all the major editing it needs done by then. That is the one downside of Nano--the massive amount of editing that has to take place. And you'd think I'd have that finished by now, but no.

so when your cable is cut off... you get extremely bored and go back years to find some good J/J fanfic and i so happened upon your series! Can i say I love it and am curious to see what you post next!

CJM: You have no idea the smile that broke out on my face when I read how excited you were. Thank you for reading and of course you can be added to the PM list.
Master_Jaina: New reader dance! Thank goodness for cable going out. Welcome to the story, hope you like it.

I'm currently touching up the next post and will hopefully have it up by the end of the day.

As soon as V?Kari received the transmission from her Padawan that his mission was complete, she migrated up towards Coruscant?s surface to her favorite tapcafe. She didn?t come up to the surface often; there wasn?t much to see. Before the Vong conquered Coruscant, an establishment at this altitude would have been considered anywhere from seedy to dangerous. Now, there were only a few sections of the once opulent planet that weren?t held in that regard, no matter the altitude. Despite its fall from glory and its unimaginative name, she liked 582. She enjoyed the cool feeling of the faux bantha leather, tracing her hand along the grain of the dark wood, the semblance of privacy offered by the high backs of the shadowed booths, and ?of course- the vistas offered by perching 582 levels above bedrock. Sometimes, she imagined what secret political deals were negotiated here, back when Coruscant was the Alliance.

The Galactic Alliance attempted rebuilding the world city to its former glory, but that idea was abandoned nearly twenty years ago. Too much had changed ?the basic infrastructure was almost nonexistent and, even now, buildings thousands of stories high were prone to collapse without warning because of the permacrete-devouring fungi still infesting the lower levels. The very orbit of the planet was disturbed and now nothing remained of the fragile ecosystem. No, the Alliance had abandoned this monument of defeat in favor of Denon. There was none of the horror of the war left to contend with, there.

V?Kari considered it to be a perfect analogy for what happened to the Jedi Order.

She'd left the Order more than a decade ago. But even then, she could see that the group was not living up to its potential. They had faced destruction over a century ago but instead of rebuilding, they?d settled for less, not striven for more. Even so, there had been Luke Skywalker and his Jedi Academy would restore the Order to its previous glory but the Yuuzhan Vong invasion dashed those dreams as well.

Such a waste.

It was still a volunteer-only mindset on Ossus. With Skywalker?s successors at the helm ? Jacen Solo and Gavin Fel ? there were many options other than training as a Jedi Knight. Now it was a satellite campus for those wanting to learn a smattering of Jedi arts while studying other vocations; medic, fighter pilot, soldier or even the political field were a few of the options available.

What made V?Kari especially ill was the affiliation the Jedi had with the Galactic Alliance.

She?d recovered datapads talking of the separation between Jedi Order and Republic of old. Of course the two entities held each other accountable for their actions, and yes, Jedi Knights were known to command troops of the Republic?s soldiers during the Clone Wars. As far as she could tell, though, the Jedi were never part of the Republic?s budget. They never personally groomed beings to rise through the ranks of power within the Senate or other branches of the government like they did currently.

Of course V?Kari knew the arguments about why this was. Just because the Order was on the Galactic Alliance?s bankroll didn?t mean that they were exclusive about whom they offered their services to; if the Chiss or Imperials ever needed help from the Jedi, all they had to do was ask. Of course, V?Kari couldn?t think of any situations where the blue-skinned aliens in the Unknown Regions would ever ask outsiders for help, and the Empire seemed perfectly content to watch generation after generation of Moffs bicker with each other until the end of time.

Nevertheless, V?Kari was uncomfortable with the setup. She was when she was part of the Jedi Order, when she left it, and she was even warier of it now that she had a different perspective on the matter thanks to the historical datapads.

The worst part, in her mind, was the fact that she was definitely part a minority given her thoughts on the matter.

Settling into a booth in the back corner, she looked around at the other patrons. She?d talked to a number of people in the last de

She enjoyed the cool feeling of the faux bantha leather, tracing her hand along the grain of the dark wood, the semblance of privacy offered by the high backs of the shadowed booths, and ?of course- the vistas offered by perching 582 levels above bedrock. Sometimes, she imagined what secret political deals were negotiated here, back when Coruscant was the Alliance.

Terrific descriptions of the tapcaf and Coruscant post-YV You really make it easy to picture both.

Of course V?Kari knew the arguments about why this was. Just because the Order was on the Galactic Alliance?s bankroll didn?t mean that they were exclusive about whom they offered their services to; if the Chiss or Imperials ever needed help from the Jedi, all they had to do was ask. Of course, V?Kari couldn?t think of any situations where the blue-skinned aliens in the Unknown Regions would ever ask outsiders for help, and the Empire seemed perfectly content to watch generation after generation of Moffs bicker with each other until the end of time.

I have to agree with V'Kari about a general unease with the Jedi getting too comfortable with the GA

V?Kari watched the reel completely numb. Once the initial shock wore off, she had to clasp her hands together to keep them from shaking in anger at her stupid padawan.

Aww, so she knows instantly who did it? Which means she probably knows why as well. This mystery will probably be solved sooner than I thought.

She muttered a curse under her breath. This was not how the mission was supposed to go. V?Kari knew Master Solo had valuable information on Force techniques that were not taught at the Jedi Praxeum. Golad was sent to Ossus to locate and steal those texts. Killing one of V?Kari?s former instructors was never part of the plan.

After all, she and her padawan did not have matching red lightsaber blades because they believed in the Sith philosophy; it was more of a symbol of unity. They did not strive for power and rely on dangerous emotions to get them to such a place. They simply disagreed with the way the Jedi were behaving and wanted to do something against it. For the moment, that made them the enemy or an adversary, at the very least. In that regard, having ruby blades only seemed the natural way to go.

Interesting reasoning.

Great post, Fatty V'Kari's POV certainly puts things in a new perspective. I guess we now have an idea about the motive for Jacen's murder, but I guess we'll have to wait for more info from Golad to know for sure. As benign as V'Kari may think her motives, I think that she is heading, or perhaps leading, herself and her padawan into dangerous territory. We've seen more than one well-intentioned Force-user be corrupted by knowledge of new power and I get the feeling she may be headed in that direction along with Golad.

canadianjedimama: Hmmm... I've never compared her to Dooku, but I definitely see some similarities.

Yobi: Don't worry about being late, since I'm behind in getting replies and the next update ready to go. Yes, she knows how it happened, but she may not know why, and she certainly doesn't like what happened. I'm glad you're picking up on all those things about V'Kari.

And now what Yobi has been waiting for: the crime scene

[b]Chapter Four[/b]

Captain Cyor didn?t know whether to be elated or horrified that this particular case fell onto his shoulders. Fire suppression teams were able to put out the flames quickly enough but the damage done before they could reach the scene was severe. It must have been an intense fire.

They had only found one body and the coroner had been able to confirm that it was an elderly human male but more than that would have to wait until he could take DNA samples. Cyor?s nose twitched, he never liked the smell of house fires ? especially when someone was roasted. It smelled entirely too much like meat.

?Captain??

Cyor turned to a young investigator who was wearing a puzzled frown. He could appreciate the kid?s obvious tension. In fact, he?d never seen his team so focused. Procedure was a large part of crime investigation; mostly it was downright tedious. There was evidence to be collected, holos to record, spec scans to run, statements to take and that was just the beginning. This time, though, his team seemed to be nervous and eager to find everything, anything that could tell them what happened. Master Solo was well-loved.

?Captain, something isn?t right here.?

?Son, there are a lot of things not ?right? here.?

?No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. I mean ? ?

?C?mon, kid.?

The young man flushed before starting over. ?There isn?t any evidence of an accelerant, sir.?

?It?s probably dissipated. It was a hot burn.?

?Yes, sir. That?s just it. For something to burn that hot and that fast there should be some residue left to read with the scans. This fire burned too hot and too fast for it not to have an accelerant.?

?Just because you can?t find one doesn?t mean that there wasn?t one.?

?Yes, sir. I just? something feels wrong here.?

?Leave the feelings to the Jedi and focus on the facts, Lieutenant.?

Leaving the bones of Master Solo?s home, he returned to his speeder to try and clear his nose out with the clean smell of caf. He was looking at his datapad and reviewing the notes he had so far when he heard someone approach. Looking up, he came face to face with Gavin Fel. Cyor had never met the leader of the Jedi Order but most people in the galaxy - especially Ossians - could instantly recognize him.

?Master Fel,? Cyor stood and greeted him with a solemn nod.

?Captain,? Fel said with an intimidating stare, ?All the major news networks are reporting the death of Jedi Master Solo. While none of them have disclosed details surrounding what has happened here tonight, I would like to hear you say that your officers did not leak the situation to the press.?

Cyor was slightly stunned by the other man?s words. There were only a few beings in the galaxy that had the gall to address him in such a manner, and unless the person doing the talking was his mother, he didn?t take kindly to it. ?No, sir,? he said through gritted teeth, ?are you sure it wasn?t one of your Jedi who tipped the news networks??

?Not yet.?

The detective attempted to cover his surprise at the other man?s honesty. He doubted he actually hid anything from the Jedi but it was a habit ingrained by years of interrogating suspects. Cyor didn?t understand the mysticism associated with the Jedi, nor did he try to. He figured that they were just doing their jobs like he did his. He just didn?t like it when the two worlds collided.

They had only found one body and the coroner had been able to confirm that it was an elderly human male but more than that would have to wait until he could take DNA samples. Cyor?s nose twitched, he never liked the smell of house fires ? especially when someone was roasted. It smelled entirely too much like meat.

Nice detail.

Master Solo was well-loved.

Such a departure from canon

?Leave the feelings to the Jedi and focus on the facts, Lieutenant.?

Listen to the Lieutenant! I can see this is going to boggle their minds for awhile.

Taking a moment to think about the possibilities, the Jedi leader simply shrugged his shoulders. ?Yes, there are methods that can be used to start a fire. But since I wasn?t here to see how it was started or how large it grew, I don?t feel comfortable attempting to give any more of an answer than that.?

Okay, I guess Cyor figured it out faster than I expected.

?You don?t think his death was accidental?? Gavin asked.
Cyor looked up and met his eyes. ?Do you??
Fel took a moment to chew over what little he had been told. ?No.?

Well, they're off to a pretty good start. Captain Cyor is pretty clever to have guessed at a Force-technique with the fire.

Great post, Fatty Loved the dialogue between the captain and lieutenant and how baffled they were. Looking forward to see how Cyor and Gavin proceed with the investigation from here.